Comfortable in Noumea
After six days with no ships, no radio contacts, no whales and no dolphins, we arrived at anchor approximately 2330 on Thursday. We finally ran out of wind some tens of miles short of Dumbea Pass and also damaged our headsail mainly through accumulated wear and tear. The sailmaker had checked it before we left Australia but perhaps did not anticipate the conditions. No worries, we have a spare and we took down the old one and put up the new one. It was wet work with the bow (and crew/sail) occasionally underwater but all went smoothly. Navigation through the reef system was easy.
We emailed Port Moselle and found that we could not come into the port that night because of "Security Concerns" and so anchored in an adjoining Bay. Penny was a little concerned with the location. David wanted it because the wind had risen considerably and the location mentioned by the Capitinerie was exposed to the SW and mentioned in our cruising guide as untenable in SW. We were careful to anchor 100 metres outside an anchoring exclusion zone and there were no issues mentioned on the chart. However, the old cruising guide did mention a Naval Exclusion Zone nearby. Anyway, Penny was not surprised when there was a sound of an engine at 0600 our time and we were told we could not anchor there. Wow, it was hard to wake up! The fellow was pleasant and we negotiated an extra hour as we could then go straight in for Customs etc. We think he thought we were in the no-anchoring zone even though our GPS said we were okay; on the other hand, perhaps we were in a Naval Exclusion Zone. Fortunately, we were not wearing "Rainbow Warrior" Tee-shirts. When we got into the Port, we discovered a huge trimaran in the Visitor spot. THAT's why we could not enter at night. This is the biggest trimaran in the world (33 metres long and beam 17 metres) and had just done Newcastle to Noumea in two and a half days! It took us more than twice as long and less distance. This thing averages the same speed as a good sized ship. It is the talk of the town and being nearby we have examined it closely. What a vessel! It is called "Sodeb'o" and is Aussie.
There have never been so many people walking past "Pastime of Sydney"- wow are we popular.......or is it the trimaran further down the pontoon? Noumea has its own "Pasha Bulka" for a short while.
Clearing Customs became a bit of a saga but really did not interfere with our activities. Immigration came quickly and were good. Quarantine did not get the message and came hours later after some prompting from the Port authorities. Customs just kept failing to finish our clearance. Finally, after many phone calls, the fellow there said "Oh, no paper in the fax machine!" So, all day, multiple copies of our forms were banking up in the fax memory! We finally got our clearance near the end of the business day.
We have already removed the broken stanchion and damaged piece of the wind steering and someone is (hopefully) looking after those things for us. They will not delay us getting "out and about" within the neighbouring islands. We attempted contact with the local sailmaker but no joy yet. Still, no hurry with that either. With help from daughter Tess, back in Canberra, Will now has a very cheap ticket for return to Australia on Thursday.
There is a bit of an issue with gas. The French changed the rules a few weeks ago and now will not refill any gas bottles that do not come from the EU! It is causing people huge hassles but we've decided we will just be conservative with our gas usage and not attempt all the complicated conversions being attempted by others. A NZ boat next to us has already got deeply involved and found that a critial part cannot be purchased any where else in the world other than France and New Caledonia. Ah, the French! We often carry a couple of spare bottles for places such as PNG and Solomons but left them out for New Caledonia. We had an excellent dinner. Huge and wonderful menu. Good food (better than last time in Noumea). Fireworks display for Bastille day on the 14th. Well, time now for a good sleep.
Regards, The Crew
